


Critique

by tbat



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, an adventure into mythra needing a long lie down in a dark room, an adventure into rex and pyra being innocent cinnamon rolls who deserve the world, dumb fluff, oh also this is post-game haha whoops, the only kind of fluff i know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-04 12:43:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14593296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tbat/pseuds/tbat
Summary: Rex asks Mythra for help impressing Pyra. Mythra sinks deeper into existential despair. Rex/Pyra, Mythra/Sofa.





	1. Chapter 1

 

"Mythra, can you help me with something?"

Mythra attempted to look at Rex whilst moving her head as little as possible, squinting irritably at him. She was  _rather_ comfortable right now and did not need him disrupting her little slice of Elysium, here on the sofa, enjoying some light reading. An open book dangled loosely in her hand, and was clearly not professionally made. The pages were unevenly attached, with several jutting awkwardly out of the cover at unusual angles. The title, Rex noted, was "Why I'm So Great, by Mythra, age 500." The contents, judging by the small preview she was currently giving him, were tiny replicas of paintings depicting Mythra in all the angelic splendor people must have assumed she had. She was reading it with chocolate stains around her mouth. He chose not to comment on this.

"Only if I don't have to get up for it," she replied, eyes drifting immediately back to her tome of ego massages.

"I think you're alright there. It's about Pyra." Mythra snapped her book shut and sunk further into the sofa.

"Oh no."

"What d'you mean, 'oh no?'"

"I mean, 'oh no, he's gonna ask me something  _stupid,'_ that's what. She likes flowers, yes, if that's what you're going for. Flowers are a safe bet."

"They are? Maybe I should get her so-th-that's not what I'm on about! I want to run some...some ideas past you." Rex said, pulling a chair up near her head so she'd be forced to look in his general direction.

"Ideas for what, exactly? Narrow it down here, Rex." Rex's face turned slightly red and he shuffled restlessly in his seat, trying to maintain some dignity.

"W-well. I'm thinking, I want to try and get more...romantic, with her." Mythra stared at the ceiling, wishing she still had Siren on call to vaporize the entire house. Why. Why ask her.

"Rex. I have walked in on you two getting  _way_ too into the kissing like five times in the past week. I don't think you need help with that." Rex spluttered and flailed in his chair, resisting the urge to clamp a hand over her mouth. The chocolate stains helped tip the balance towards "don't." That's weeks of stubborn stains on his gloves right there.

How did she  _know?_ They were pretty careful about that sort of thing, it was a  _policy_ they'd mutually agreed on. Nothing heavier than a hug when prying eyes and/or Zekes could bear witness. It was  _embarassing._ Anything he and Pyra did, from kissing to exciting dishwashing sessions, should be top secret.

In truth, what had exposed them was that Mythra had frequently walked into the room, seen them tenderly locking lips while Pyra forgot to put the sponge down and got most of her leg wet from squeezing it, and just walked straight back out before they could notice her. The temptation to cause a scene and embarass them was always there, but it tended to be overrriden by Mythra's desire not to have to look at that sort of thing for too long.

After a few seconds, some semblance of composure returned to Rex. Kind of.

"Mythra, you can't just...you can't just  _say_ that!" She shrugged.

"Can and did. Are you asking me for some advice? Stop going for it in the kitchen. Use your bedroom. You guys are going to get caught by someone other than me one day, and it'll be Zeke, and you know what'll happen then. You're way too obvious."

"It's not about that!" Rex paused in thought for a moment. "...Are we?"

"Yes."

"...I'll keep that in mind," he murmured, eager to swiftly shift the conversation far, far away from what he'd  _assumed_ were strictly confidential activities.

"Look, it's not that. I meant, like...okay, maybe it's better if I just show you," he continued, reaching into his bag for a small notebook. He flipped a few pages into it, then held it out towards Mythra. She reluctantly took it. The page was blank, apart from a single sentence at the top, scribbled in Rex's shaky, barely legible handwriting. It occured to Mythra that she may be literally the only person other than Rex who could read his infernal chickenscratch, and that was only because of her analysis ability.

It still took her a bit of effort to decipher.

"Pyra. You're...the...greatest treasure...I...ever salvaged," she read outloud, slowly and deliberately. She tossed the notebook back towards Rex.

"Rex, this is terrible. Your handwriting  _and_ what you wrote. That's so corny I'm surprised Pyra hasn't tried cooking it in a stew already. What  _is_ this?" Rex grinned sheepishly, flicking back a couple of pages in his notebook.

"They're...y'know, romantic stuff. I thought maybe she'd want to hear something that's not 'I love you,' every now and then, so I wrote down a bunch of these! Listen, listen! Is your father the Architect? Because you're an angel!" Mythra's fingers dug deeply into the sofa cushion as she winced in pain.

"Rex. Our father  _is_ the Architect. You picked one of the two people in Alrest that won't work on, and you're talking to the other one. Why're you showing me these, anyway?"

"I wanna know what you think of them!" Mythra pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. She did not want to read any more of Rex's witticisms. They can only be downhill from here if that was what he considered his best work.

"They're not  _for_  me, Rex, why do you care what I think?"

"Okay, I wanna know what you think Pyra will think of them. I mean, who knows her better than you?" Mythra did not have a counter to his infuriating logic on this one. Bodysharing does give you a bit of an insider perspective on a person's tastes, whether you wanted to or not.

At a certain point, sharing bodies and memories with Pyra had turned into the mental equivalent of walking into a girl's room and discovering that every inch of every wall was plastered with photos of her crush. It was distracting. The overpowering Rexmania wafting from her half of their being had become rather distressing. It's not that Mythra disliked Rex so much as she just couldn't compete with that level of adoration.

If anything, though, that made judging what Pyra would think of Rex's horrible one-liners  _harder._ Maybe she'd just automatically like them because Rex said them and she valued the sentiment too much to exercise any quality control. Then again, maybe that was selling Pyra short. Surely she had  _some_ standards.

Mythra chose to give her sister the benefit of the doubt. She mentally adjusted to what she assumed Pyra's standards would be, mostly through taking her own standards and slashing them in half. That seemed about right. This whole experience was probably going to be awful and make her face contort into exciting new grimaces of discomfort, but she'd do it. For Pyra. And for Rex, as well, but the emotional trauma he was putting her through with this wasn't endearing him to her right now.

"Okay...just. Read them out to me and I'll tell you. I reserve the right to stop you if they get any worse than that," she said, shifting her weight on the sofa so she was facing towards Rex.

"I think they're pretty good," he pouted. Tapping a finger at the top of his chosen page, Rex cleared his throat and began his recital.

"Pyra, you set my world on fire," he said with complete, clueless pride. Mythra shuddered and dug her face a little further into her cushion. Father, she pleaded, why did you bring us  _both_ back if you were going to make me suffer like this? But she had to see this through, at least for now. She knew what she thought of it. What would  _Pyra_ think?

"Terrible. She'll think you mean she's burning your world down and get all upset." Rex looked crestfallen, yet dubious.

"...You really think she won't get what I mean?"

"Remember who we're talking about. How many times have you seen metaphors fly right over her head?" A flash of recollection emerged in Rex's mind. A clearing in Gormott, just outside of Torigoth, in the dead of night. Nia's skeptical face in front of him, glaring past him towards Pyra.

_"What if it's all just an act? What if one day she turns around and stabs you in the back!?"_

_"Pyra wouldn't do that!" he protested. How could Nia even suggest that? Pyra had been nothing but kind, caring and supportive ever since he'd met her. The idea that she'd do anything to hurt him seemed completely alien to him. Something deep inside him screamed that he could trust her completely, no matter what._

_"Of course I wouldn't! I don't have a knife," Pyra mumbled, offering a far simper rebuttal to the accusation._

Oh, no. Mythra was right. Pyra just...didn't seem to know what metaphors were. He'd never realized. Wait. If Pyra has trouble with metaphors, does that mean...? A second, somewhat more painful memory popped into his head. He probably shouldn't ask, but he couldn't help it.

"Mythra...d'you think Pyra knows what 'one-eyed monster' means?" he asked, bracing himself for a fresh new slap across the face. To his surprise, Mythra stayed where she was, although she did seem very slightly redder than before.

"Nope. She asked me why I slapped you back then, you know. Didn't get it at all. I told her I'd explain when she was older."

"...did you ever explain?"

"Nope," she repeated, "I figured I'd just leave it to you." Rex did not wish to examine the implications of that statement. He laughed nervously, scanning his notebook for the next line.

"O-okay, so, uh next is, um...," he stuttered, trying not to dwell on the topic. Eventually, he found his footing and presented the next few lines on the page to Mythra.

None of them survived her critique.

Pyra, you light up my life. No. She'd think you wanted her to be a nightlight for you.

Pyra, to me you burn brighter than the sun. No. She'd buy you sunglasses.

Pyra, you're the only person who can warm my heart. No. She'll think you're just cold all the time.

Rex groaned in frustration. Mythra had shredded a full page of  _piping hot romance_ before his very eyes. The entirety of the fire puns section, a smouldering crater.

"Mythra, are you  _sure_ Pyra won't like any of these?"

"Hey, you asked me to do this and I'm telling you what I think. I thought I knew her better than anyone?" Rex withdrew slightly in his chair. She had him there. Didn't exactly look grateful to tell the person he singled out for the job that he didn't appreciate her input, did it.

"I...yeah, sorry. I just thought these were  _good._ It feels like I'm letting her down," Rex mumbled, his head drooping downwards. Mythra sighed. Oh, great, now she felt sorry for him. She flopped very slightly further forward and extended an arm to pat him on the head a couple of times. At some point in time she'd ended up as some kind of surrogate big sister to Rex, and this was about the best means of fulfilling that role she could think of.

"Look. I'm sure at least one of these is good. Besides, she'll appreciate that you even tried in the first place. Just keep going, alright?" she said, quickly withdrawing her hand to reestablish her comfy posture. It didn't reassure Rex much, but it helped. He glanced back towards the book.

"There's only one left, actually, but it's...a little complicated. Here," he said, passing the book back over to Mythra. She read it as best as she could. Rex's handwriting continued to astound her. She suppressed a sigh. Oh boy. Still pretty bad. But she didn't really feel like making him cry, so she'd fudge it a little.

"It's...better," she said, carefully controlling her tone. Rex's eyes lit up immediately.

"Really?! You think she'll like that one?"  _No. No. It's awful. It's the cheesiest one of the lot. It's SO bad._  She fought back against every impulse in her body. She couldn't tell him. She couldn't ruin a reaction that genuine, even if it was over something so stupid. It's no wonder those two had fallen for each other so hard when they were both such pure, sweet morons.

"Y-yeah. It's...yeah." Mythra barely managed to splutter out some extra encouragement. "W-why don't you go...go tell her that one, huh?" Let this end. Just let it end before she had to read any more puns. Rex grinned eagerly and leapt to his feet, the chair almost clattering onto Mythra's head.

"I'm gonna! I'm gonna tell her right now! Thanks, Mythra!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Tell who what?"

Mythra craned her neck over the armrest of the sofa, grumbling irritably about how comfy she  _used_ to be, to check who the new arrival was. Not that she needed to. She knew that voice too well, but she wanted to believe it was a very skilled impersonation. Pyra was standing in the doorway, head tilted in curiosity. Rex's eyes lit up even brighter, somehow.

"Pyra!" he greeted happily, leaping towards her for a flying hug assault. Pyra skillfully caught him, only stumbling back a couple of steps from the impact, and returned the hug. A few seconds later, they broke the hug off, both stepping backwards to smile affectionately at the other. Mythra squinted at the sight. Pretty low-level, so far. She could deal with this. It was cute. The second their faces got  _any_ closer she was out of there.

"Hello, Rex! Um...did something happen? I've never seen you run at me like that before." Rex inched a little closer to her, still grinning.

"Actually, I had something I wanted to tell you." Pyra nodded slightly in realization.

"Oh, you meant me, then. What is it? It must be important." Mythra's eyes shrank in horror.

Wait. Oh no. He's just going to say it right, there, isn't he? He's going to make her  _hear it_ , not just  _read it._ Mythra tried to move. Escape, quickly, and as far away from here as possible. But she couldn't move. She was paralysed. By fear or by morbid curisoity, she couldn't say, but she was locked in place, transfixed.

"Pyra," Rex said solemnly, "I'm going to tell the whole world I love you." Pyra thought about this for a moment.

"...isn't that going to take a while?" Rex did not answer. Instead, he moved even closer to her, bringing himself back into hugging range. He brought his mouth as close to her ear as their height difference would allow.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Um...thank you? Why did you only say it to me?" Pyra asked, a faint blush on her face. Rex looked straight into her eyes, his own unflinching and full of pure love.

"Because you mean the world to me."

There was an almost imperceptibly small pause as Pyra processed what he'd said. Her hands rose up to her mouth, a tiny squeak of shock slipping out. Her eyes watered. Her shoulders trembled. In an instant she leapt towards Rex, returning his cuddle-tackle and scooping him into her arms.

"Rex...that's...that's so  _romantic..._ you mean the world to me, too!" she sobbed, holding him as tightly as she could. Rex embraced her in turn, his own eyes starting to overflow with tears. They sank to the ground, still holding each other as close as possible.

Mythra left the room in complete silence to vomit in disgust. She did not leave the bathroom for three hours.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyra does her best. Mythra reaches her emotional limit.

"Mythra...would it be alright if you helped me with something?" Pyra asked, her hands clasped together with nerves. Mythra was once again held deeply, yet tenderly within the embrace of her beloved sofa. Comfort was king, and Mythra was happy to be its queen. Rex had once told Pyra he fondly remembered the days when he could actually use that sofa, but clearly that golden age was long gone until Mythra either moved or bought her own sofa. Neither seemed likely.

"No," Mythra didn't even look up as she responded to her sister.

"You...you don't even know what I was going to ask about," Pyra mumbled, slightly taken aback by Mythra's dismissiveness.

"Is it about Rex?"

"...no?" Pyra replied, making a noble, but terrible effort at lying. An uncomfortable silence crept across the room, causing Pyra to swallow nervously. After a few more seconds of Mythra refusing to dignify her with a response, she broke down.

"Fine. It's...it's about Rex. I wanted to show you something I made for him. Can you help? Please?"

Mythra wriggled sideways, burying her face into the back of the sofa to ignore Pyra even harder.

"Nope. Never again. Not doing it. You guys are on your own from now on." Pyra frowned and crouched down until she was level with Mythra's head.

"'On our own?' I don't think I've asked you for help before."

" _He_ has. Remember that... _thing_ he said to you last week?" Mythra ran a hand across her stomach, trying to quell its churning. She was deeply allergic to cheese, and Rex had forcefed her half the pantry in one shot with that line of his.

"Oh, you helped him with that? Wow, Mythra, I didn't think you could come up with anything so  _romantic!"_  Pyra's eyes shone as she smiled and giggled in recollection. Her sister's eyes became dull voids where nothing but sorrow dwelled.

"That was all Rex. Don't accuse me of crimes I haven't committed."

"R-really...? I thought he must have had some help. But it was all him? Oh wow..." she trailed off, in complete awe of Rex's wordsmithery.

Pyra genuinely believed that Rex had said the most romantic thing she had ever heard in her entire life that day.

Pyra had also genuinely believed that Rex had said the most romantic thing she had ever heard in her entire life almost constantly ever since they had first met. Rex felt much the same about her. Mythra found both these facts deeply troubing. Pyra sighed dreamily. This only troubled her further.

"Isn't he amazing?"

"He is. He is amazing. Maybe not in the way you think he is, though."

Pyra cheerily ignored this comment, fumbling for a folded-up piece of paper. Mythra heard the gentle rustle of the paper, and shuddered in fear. That paper was a lethal weapon.  _Something_ was on that thing, and Pyra wanted her to read it. Her mind rapidily slammed random phrases against the wall, frantically trying to figure out how many different romantic puns you could get from the word "salvage." She felt Pyra gently poke her in the arm, her fingertip barely making contact with the skin before pulling away.

"So...I got to thinking. Maybe I should try and do something like this for Rex, too. Try and say...well, something that really shows how I feel.  _Everything_ I feel. But I didn't just want to copy what he did, so, I um...Wrote something a little longer." Mythra slowly rotated back towards Pyra, peering up at the ominous paper in her hands. She could see the writing covering every inch of it, leaving no space left unscribbled.

"Longer," she repeated.

"Only a bit. I think he'll really like it!" Pyra chirped, a small amount of pride sneaking into her voice. She had been determined to match what she saw as Rex's unparalled affection for her, and she liked to think she'd achieved that goal.

"It won't take long, okay? Could you read it and tell me what you think?" she said, the paper in her hands looming threateningly closer to Mythra.

"...how many puns are in it?"

"Puns? Um, none, I think. Why would I write puns? I'm trying to be serious with him." A gloved hand jutted out towards her, palm open and inviting.

"Alright. Show me." Pyra blinked in surprise and cautiously placed the paper in Mythra's open hand, snatching her own hand back as though Mythra's was a crocodile about to snap its jaw shut.

"Are you...sure? You didn't seem that happy about this a moment ago." Mythra swung her legs round, placing them on the ground, then awkwardly adjusted to a normal sitting position. She flashed Pyra a quick smile.

"Oh, c'mon. For you? I'll do anything you want," she said, bringing the paper in front of her face.

She quietly omitted that she was happy to do this now that she knew it was not going to be filled with corny romantic one-liners. Knowing Pyra, whatever she'd written would be incredibly clumsy and awkward and heartbreakingly earnest, but it wouldn't be the kind of line she'd expect to hear in a bar from a man with an infinetely punchable demeanour, which was an improvement on Rex's technique.

Rex had only gotten into the Bad Pick-up Lines school of romantic expression from his work, which from the age of ten had put him into regular contact with the kind of guys who really did hang around bars spewing pick up lines. As an impressionable youth, Rex, rather naively, had simply assumed that this was a good way to express your feelings for someone, and so deployed them with utter innocence.

Pyra had sat asleep in a boat for five hundred years. She didn't really know what pick-up lines were, and thus, rather naively, simply assumed that Rex was coming up with incredibly poetic ways to express his feelings.

This still meant that whatever she'd made would be far less cringeworthy than Rex's despicable pages of fire and/or cooking-related puns. Mythra examined the paper in her hands, carefully unfolding it to ensure she didn't accidentally rip it.

She had to unfold it several times, the paper gradually expanding to a size far bigger than she'd anticipated. It was the kind of page she'd expect to see in a massive, dusty history book that could concuss the librarian if they tried to lift it out of the shelf wrong. And it was completely covered in writing.

She frowned, and carefully turned the page over. The other side was much the same. Every inch of available space had been used, top to bottom. Making matters worse was Pyra's handwriting. Where Rex's had been large, coarse and messy, Pyra's was quite the opposite. It was intricately written, with tightly controlled penmanship that gave it an elegant appearance.

And it was tiny. So very tiny. Pyra had compressed three pages' worth of writing into a single double-sided sheet.

Mythra glanced back up at Pyra. She smiled cheerfully at Mythra, clearly far too pleased with her work.

"I think he'll really understand how I feel if he reads this."

"...You...really feel a lot of things, huh?"

Pyra laughed, her face reddening slightly.

"I guess so," she said, nodding her head at Mythra, "Go ahead. And be honest, okay?" Mythra sighed, clearing her throat.

"Rex. Ever since we first met, I've always-"

"W-why are you reading it out loud?!" Pyra yelped, her blush deepening.

"...Why wouldn't I? If you're gonna say this to him, I need to do this. I have to check if it sounds weird when you say it outloud."

"Mythra, it's...it's just a letter!" Mythra idly flicked the paper over to remind herself of just  _how much_ writing Pyra had stuffed onto this thing. Yeah. That was still a  _lot._

"That...makes more sense," she said, trying not to imagine the scenario where Pyra attempted to deliver this novella of a letter in a live performance. Depending on her confidence level, it could've lasted anywhere from twenty minutes to a full hour. She turned the page back over and let her eyes drift towards the top. This was going to be a long read, but at least she wasn't going to wear her throat out with the dramatic reading.

Tense silence filled the room for the next five minutes. Pyra had sat down next to Mythra, trying, and failing, to resist the urge to stare at her face to try and gauge her reactions. A hand occassionally wandered up to Mythra's chin for her to stroke it in thought. Pyra squirmed in her chair. What did Mythra think? Her face was completely blank, and she wasn't  _saying_ anything. How far through was she, anyway?

She couldn't take it. She had to know now.

"Mythra."

"Hm?" she replied, tilting her head towards Pyra.

"Is it...good so far?" she asked, afraid of the answer. Mythra wasn't exactly known for keeping quiet when she had an Opinion, so her silence was unsettling Pyra quite a bit. Mythra's expression remained blank as she shrugged.

"It's alright."

"That's a reli-alright?!" she whined as her heartfelt feelings were given a 5/10 right before her eyes.

"Yeah, it's alright. I'm not too far in, though. I just got to the bit where you say you think it's cute that he's short, that was kinda funny."

"It's not meant to be funny! He is!"

"Wait, that part's serious? Really? Even this? 'Rex, you might be small, but I've never met anyone with a bigger heart?'" Mythra pitched her voice up higher and spoke in an exagerratedly softer tone, trying to match Pyra's voice. Pyra's own voice also got higher, although not on purpose.

"Yes! I'm being totally serious! He's the kindest person I've ever met!"

"Right, right, and the shortest, too. You ever just wanna lean on his head and use it as a little armrest? I've wanted to do that for a  _while_ now, but he won't stay still near me long enough to let me try," Mythra said in her most obnoxious tone, propping her arm up on the end of the sofa as a visual aid. Pyra sighed in frustration.

"Mythra, don't make fun of him. There's nothing wrong with how tall he...isn't." Mythra waved her propped-up arm dismissively.

"Fine, fine. Just sit quiet and let me read your totally serious letter, then."

"It  _is_ totally serious..." Pyra mumbled sadly.

Having enjoyed its brief lunchbreak, the tense silence happily got back to work, making Pyra as uncomfortable as possible. She didn't want to interrupt Mythra again. If Mythra was going to laugh at it, or her, or Rex, she'd rather deal with all the jokes in one session at the end, instead of piece-by-piece.

Unfortunately, she had to admit, it  _was_ quite a long letter, and she wasn't sure how slowly Mythra was reading it. Who knows how long she'd take?

After another ten minutes of nervous anticipation, Pyra finally heard a single sound break through the quiet. It was short, and barely audible. She'd only heard it thanks to the complete silence in the room.

It was a tiny sniffle. From Mythra. Pyra stared at her twin's face in surprise. As blank as ever, but if she concentrated, she could just about make out a certain tightness around her lips, like she was very deliberately trying to hold back any emotion from showing.

This just raised further questions in Pyra's mind. That sniffle could go in any direction, really. Could've been tears, could've been her trying to hold in a snort. Right now, Pyra was inclined towards the latter answer, and she wasn't looking forward to Mythra's full comedy routine at the end of her reading. She turned her head away from Mythra and leaned back in her seat, trying to relax. She hadn't realized how nerve-wracking showing this to someone would be. She could barely even concentrate on how bad showing this to  _Rex_ would be. Mythra was bad enough on her own.

Her thoughts were broken by a second sound. Another sniffle. Slightly louder this time. Pyra jerked her head back towards Mythra. Her lips were now twitching, obviously struggling to hold back her reaction. Pyra attempted to ignore her again. She couldn't tell what Mythra was trying to hold in, and trying to figure it out was only going to put her more on edge.

It'd be best to just stay calm, stay quiet, and wait for her to finis-a sudden sob cut across her train of thought. Pyra took another look at her sister. Mythra's eyes were clearly reddening and watering as she read the letter, her hands trembling and tightly gripping the paper. Pyra reached a hand out towards her.

"Um...Mythra? Are you alright?" Mythra shook her head in response and leapt towards Pyra, pulling her into a tight hug, her crying at this point open and shameless.

"Pyra..." she forced out between sobs, "It's...it's so  _beautiful._ I've never read anything so beautiful in my life!" Pyra gently returned the hug and pulled Mythra in a little closer.

"R-really?" she asked, slightly taken aback by Mythra's reaction. Obviously, she knew Mythra had a softer side that she kept buried under several layers of sarcasm and irritability, but she hadn't really expected it to come out this strongly. Especially not after the sarcasm had already made an appearance.

"Yeah...it doesn't start off that good, but once it got going, it...it's just so  _touching._ It...It was like I understood your feelings completely. I mean, I already knew, but I've never understood them so  _deeply_ before." Pyra smiled, trying to ignore the back-handed half of that compliment.

"So, you think he'll like it?" Mythra nodded, although Pyra could only really tell because Mythra's chin kept hitting off of her shoulder.

"Trust me, he'll love it. Just...just go give it to him, okay?"

"Alright. Thank you, Mythra," Pyra replied, squeezing Mythra a little harder with her arms. Before she could break away from Mythra, however, she heard a familiar voice from across the room.

"Hey, guys, I'm bac-uh. Did something...happen? You don't look too great over there, Mythra," Rex said, slightly thrown-off by the scene in front of him. Wasn't every day Mythra was crying.

Mythra disentangled herself from Pyra and strode purposefully towards Rex.

"Rex. Pyra has something to show you," she stated gravely, holding the letter out towards him. Rex stared in bewilderment at her, then at the letter, before shrugging and reaching forwards. Just as Rex reached out to take it, she reconsidered and snatched it away. She marched back towards Pyra and stuffed it into her hands, then dragged her off of the sofa and towards Rex.

"There," she said, walking behind Pyra and pushing her an extra couple of steps towards Rex. Satisfied with her rearrangement, she pushed Rex lightly out of the doorway and stepped outside. Turning back towards the pair, she idly wiped her eyes with one hand.

"Give him that, Pyra. Right now. I...I gotta go. That Future Crafts place sells tissues, right?" she asked, looking at Rex.

"...I think so? It has towels and stuff."

"Good enough," she said hurriedly, before dashing off in the store's general direction. Rex stared at her rapidily disappearing, audibly weeping form for a moment before looking back at Pyra.

"Is she alright?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

"Mostly. She, um...liked what I wrote," Pyra replied, waving the letter in her hands.

"Oh, that. What is it, anyway? Sounds like she really wanted me to read it, too, but I dunno. I don't think I wanna cry today."

Pyra's face, having managed to stay clear and composed for a grand total of fifteen minutes, immediately reddened again.

"It's...well. It's for you. To read," she said, eyes fixated on something very interesting, very far behind Rex and his unhelpfully curious expression. He took a step towards her, trying to reach for the letter. Unlike Mythra, Pyra allowed him to take it, although her hand was shaking slightly while she did it.

Rex unfolded the letter, his eyes instinctively widening at the sheer length. He flipped it over to confirm his suspicions that it was, in fact, double-sided. A mix of fear and admiration filled his eyes as he looked back towards Pyra. Clearly, she'd made something good here. Even more clearly, however, whatever was written here was so  _potent_ that it had reduced Mythra to a blubbering wreck. That took special effort. The one time he'd seen Mythra cry, she'd left it at one sniffle before forcing it back down. Full-on sobs were...an achievement.

And she wasn't even the target. This letter was for  _him._ What was this going to  _do_ to him?He tried to hold back the nerves, forcing a grateful smile to Pyra.

"Thanks. Do you...want me to read it right now?"

Pyra shook her head.

"No, no, I'll leave the room and you can read it on your own."

Sitting in on Mythra's reading experience was more than enough for her. Although, Rex's realtime reactions  _were_ a tempting prospect, she had to admit. Mythra's pokerface had been surprisingly durable for a while. Rex, to her knowledge, did not have one, on account of being a terrible liar, so she'd know right away how he felt.

The anticipation would still kill her if she saw those faces, though. She'd want to ask him what he thought long before he was actually finished and interrupt the whole thing. Given Mythra's testimony on the matter, this was not acceptable. Apparantly, the end stretch was the best part. He had to see it. She headed towards the stairs, intending to lock herself in her bedroom and shove her head under a pillow for the next half an hour. She looked back towards Rex as she left.

"Just let me know what you think, alright? And be honest," she said, smiling warmly at him. Rex gave her a brief thumbs-up in return.

"Course I will. I'll come talk to you when I'm done," he reassured her, returning the smile. As soon as Pyra disappeared up the stairs, Rex flopped down onto the sofa, revelling in the rare treat. He frowned. It wasn't as comfy as he remembered. Experimentally, he lightly bounced up and down on the cushions and found they were considerably less springy than they ought to be. It was getting pretty run-down. And it wasn't like that when he first returned to Fonsett with Pyra and the others. This thing had seen an awful lot of wear and tear ever since the Titans merged, and he knew exactly who had merged with the sofa.

"Thanks, Mythra..." he muttered darkly before turning his attention back to Pyra's letter. Rex couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by it. It really was  _long_ , and he had no idea what it even was, or why it was for him, specficially. Still, he promised Pyra he'd read it, and Rex had something of a history of seeing his promises to Pyra through. Besides, he was pretty curious about why, exactly, Pyra had written  _this much_ for him. He took a deep breath in preparation, his eyes focusing on the first line.

It had been thirty minutes since she left the room. Pyra lay still on her back, pillow firmly smothering her face. The pillow had been pretty cool when she'd placed it there, but by now it had heated up too far to still be comfortable. Whether it was because she was a Fire Blade or because her face was still burning red, Pyra didn't know.

She pushed the pillow off her face and sighed quietly. Rex was taking a  _while,_ far longer than Mythra did. Pyra wasn't sure why. As far as she knew, Rex didn't have much trouble reading. It was really more his writing where things started going terribly wrong.

Pyra had written many things about Rex in that letter. She had made sure to include every single positive aspect of her Driver she could think of, some of which she'd never even realized until she'd sat down to write it. Whatever he ended up thinking of it, there could be no doubt that she had thoroughly expressed her admiration for Rex. Future historians would one day find this artifact of an Aegis herself and know that she really loved this Rex guy a whole lot and that he was apparantly very cute when he smiled.

She had left out his handwriting, though. It was, she felt, his fatal flaw.

Pyra's deep regret at not being able to save Rex from his sloppy penmanship was interrupted by a rapid, thundering, repeating noise. She tilted her head towards the source of the noise. It had gotten closer. Those were definetely footsteps. Footsteps coming right towards her.

The bedroom door slammed open, the hinges squeaking in distress from the sheer force. Before Pyra could process anything, a blubbering Rex ran towards her, performing an impressive flying leap over the edge of the bed, landing facefirst onto the space next to her. A small wet patch slowly spread out from underneath his face. Pyra mentally noted that she'd need to change her sheets tonight.

Wordlessly, his breathing shallow and rapid, and his body tense and slightly trembling, Rex clung onto Pyra tightly, burying his face into her shoulder. After hesitating for a moment in surprise, Pyra responded by wrapping an arm around him, using her free arm to reassuringly stroke his hair. She chose not to say anything yet, hoping to calm him down first before trying to make him speak. Eventually Rex's breathing stabilized somewhat and his body relaxed. He inched very slightly away from Pyra, just enough to dislodge his face from her shoulder so he could properly look at her.

It occured to him that he had made a rather loud and rather confusing entrance. He smiled apologetically at Pyra, the corners of his eyes still watering a little bit.

"I, uh...read your letter," he stated bluntly. Pyra blushed, her hair-stroking hand freezing in place for an instant.

"Did you...like it?" she asked, dimly aware that if he was reacting even more intensely than Mythra, then he'd probably found it at least passable. Rex confirmed this suspicion by nodding.

"Y-yeah, I...yeah," he eloquently responded. Rex quietly stared at Pyra's face for a few seconds, trying to string a proper sentence together before speaking again. Her face was actively distracting him from the effort, since most of his ideas were being overriden by 'her eyes are really pretty,' but he was doing his best regardless.

"Um. It made me really happy. Reading it, I mean. I never knew...how much I meant to you, I guess. It kinda overwhelmed me. And, um...I wish I could do the same thing. Tell you  _exactly_ how I feel about you. 'Cause I feel the same way. I'm not sure I can, though. Not like you did, at least," he said, stumbling just barely into an adequete response. Pyra shook her head.

"That's okay, Rex. You don't have to do what I did. Just tell me however you think you can."

"Alright."

The instant Rex finished speaking he closed what little gap remained between them and pressed his lips gently against Pyra's. She tensed up for a moment before quickly relaxing, returning the kiss. At the same time, she lowered her hand from his head to around his back, pulling him in as close as she could. After a few seconds, they broke away from each other, their faces flushed red.

"That...works," Pyra mumbled, a little thrown off by Rex's spontaneous move. "I was expecting you to...say something, though."

Rex's eyes widened a little.

"Oh! Sorry, um...I...I love you, Pyra," he whispered with earnest awkwardness.

"I love you, too, Rex," she replied, equally quietly, propping her chin on his shoulder and nuzzling against the side of his head. Once again, both of them fell silent, neither of them feeling particularly compelled to speak. They were, for now, happy to simply hold each other close.

A very loud, slightly muffled honking sound came blasting from downstairs. They chose not to let Mythra's incredibly noisy nose-blowing technique get in the way of the moment.

On the corner of the Fonsett marketplace, a shopkeeper glanced at the blank space where their stock of tissue boxes used to be, then back at the hefty sack of gold sitting on the counter. Mythra had boosted their sales 300% in a single transaction. She had used her entire stockpile by the end of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My trash piles high, blotting out the sun. I continue to not really know what I'm doing here, so please feel free to tell me where I went wrong or what to fix. Some day, I hope to write Pyra/Rex trash where they actually resemble how they are in-game.

**Author's Note:**

> This entire affair is extremely stupid and I can only apologise for what I have done. Thanks to architectN3J because I blatantly used half of their ideas to make this.


End file.
